Yes, you heard, don’t act shocked.

Why Humane Solutions?

I’ve been working with technology for more than forty years. Of course, what I mean is, I’ve been working with people for more than forty years, on things that have involved technology as part of the solutions.

As technology has moved relentlessly centre-stage in more and more domains, I’ve seen solutions become less and less humane.

What do I mean here by “humane”?

I mean “characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people…especially for the suffering or distressed.” And God knows, people dealing with e.g. online services are often suffering and distressed, even before they have to make some kind of sense of poorly thought-out online service gateways, websites and other IT systems.

Few people these days question the role of IT systems in service delivery. IT has acquired an entrenched, de facto status in service provision. The flaws and dysfunctions inherent in IT-based solutions, and the assumptions upon which its de facto status is based, are rarely, if ever, examined. And the millions that now depend for their livings on creating and maintaining our IT-based solutions are hardly likely to act to make themselves – or at least, their skills – redundant.

This blog invites you to take a fresh look at the whole question of IT as the core of modern services. Ideally, it may provide you with an opportunity to think again about the services you use, and the services you provide to others. Because I feel the world could use a little more humanity, rather than less, don’t you?